\\ / 



'rfm co^ 



011 839 166 4 



NEGRO SLAVERY 
UNJUSTIFIABLE. 



A DISCOURSE 



BY THE LATE 



/ 
REV. ALEXANDER McLEOD, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK. 

■' Whosoever looketh unto the perfx-t law of liberty, and continueth 
therein ; he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work ; 
this man shall be blessed in his deed." — James i. 25. 

18 2. 



ELEVENTH EDITION. 
WITH AN APPENDIX. 



^ / . ; 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY ALEXANDER McLEOD, 

87 West Twentieth Street. 

For Sale also by SiNOL.iin Toi'sset, 121 Nassau Street, and L Lank, 
264 Sixth Avenue. 

1863. 



Three years ago a large issue of tliis discourse 
^\as made. It was soon exhausted, and uow 
there is not a coj)y to be found in market. 
Many calls are made for it from various quar- 
ters. No pecuniary emolument has come to 
the publisher from it. He gave it as a part 
of his contribution in both private and public 
station, to the principle and cause of emancipa- 
tion. And he sends it forth ascain to aid that 1 
sacred cause, whose progress has been so rapid N 
and triumphant for the past Uvo years. Be- 
lieving that Slavery has made the tyranny that 
hiis produced the rebellion and the war, that 
the emancipation policy is necessaiy to the 
salvation of the National life, and that the 
time for the exodus of the oppressed millions 
of the colored race among us has come, he gives 
the " Sermon" again to the country. The Ap- 
pendix will show that the pulpit of the First 
Tiefornied Presbytci-'ian C'hurcli, New York, si ill 
speaks for Liberty. 

Entor<-(l iipoonling to Act of Con£;ress, in the ye«r 1863, by 

ALKXANDEU McLEOD, 

In tho Clerk's Office of tlir District Court of the Unitc.l StHtcs lor the Southern 

ni>triiit i)f N\w York. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



The first edition of tliis Discourse was printed in this 
city just sixty-one years ago. It has been often published 
since, both in this country and in Europe; and as often it 
has received the commendation of tlie philosophei', and 
patriotic statesman, as well as the christian to whom its 
demonstrations are more immediately addressed. A copy 
of the first edition was sent to Tliomas Jefferson, and was 
the occasion of a correspondence between him and its 
author, on the whole subject of the colored race in the 
United States, and the best means of doing it good. 
Another copy found its Avay into the hands of that 
celebrated philanthrojiist, Henry, Comit Gregoire of 
France. He speaks of it in highly com|)limentary terms, 
and "couples its author with Mr. Jefferson, as a defender 
of the rights of humanity." 

Dr. Alexander McLeod was Avell known in the city of 
Xew York for many years, as an eloquent preacher, able 
theologian, and clear and earnest Avriter on the morals of 
politics. As a true patriot he reproved the faults of his 
adopted country, while he defended her rights. Carrying 
out the creed of liis church, he tried all things by the Bible, 
and proclaimed its supremacy as well over social institu- 
tions, as over personal character. There were but few, 
in the day when he wrote, to vindicate slavery in America 
as right and beneficial in itself, much less as approved in 
divine revelation. It was then, rather viewed, even by its 
apologists, as an admitted evil of which it was difficult to 
dispose, than a good deserving perpetuation. Now it is 
extensively proclaimed to be a political necessity, a moral 
institution, a Bible appointment. Against such deceptive 
error, the Discourse brings to bear its strong batteries of 
Scripture logic, sustained by historical fact, and economical 
deduction. And it shows that "the practice of buying, 
holding, or selling our unoffending fellow creatures as 
slaves is immoral," and of course dangerous to tlie in- 
dividual, and the community in which it exists. In the 
notes, which are valuable, the opinions of such well known 
statesman and divhius as Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Jedediah 
Morse, and Dr. Samuel Miller are presented. These de- 
serve to be pondered now. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

The Author of this Discourse had a call presented 
to him, in IN'ovember, 1800, to take the pastoral charge 
of a congregation in the county of Orange, in the State 
of New York. He perceived among the subscribers 
the names of some whom he knew to be holders of 
slaves. He doubted the consistency of ensla%dng the 
negroes with the Christian system, and was unwilling 
to enter into a full ecclesiastic communion with those 
whu continued the practice. He hesitated to accejDt 
the call, but took an early opportunity of writing to 
the Elders of the Church, and of intimating to the 
Presbytery his sentiments respecting slavery. 

The Reformed Presbyterian Church has judicially 
condemned the practice, and warned their connections 
against it. This produced an additional evidence of 
tlie force of Christian principle. It triumphed over 
self-interest ; and, in several parts of the United States 
have men sacrificed, on the altar of religion, the prop- 
erty whicli the civil law gave them in their fellow 
men. There is not a slave-holder now in the com- 
munion of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

A sense of duty determined the author to commit 
this Discourse to the press. In the publication of it 
he has particularly in view the instruction and estab- 
lishment of those inhabitants of Orange who have 
placed themselves under his pastoral care. Through 
them he addresses all into whose hands the Discourse 
may come. 

If the Redeemer shall be pleased to bless it, and 
render it the means of ameliorating the bondage, or of 
procuring the liberty of any miserable African, the 
Author shall receive more than a recompense. 



THE PRACTICE 

ov 

ROhmm MEN IN PERPETUAL SLAVERY 

CONDEMNED. 



'■ He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be fouud in his hand, he shall 
surely be put to death." — Exod. xxi. 16. 

God is omnipotent. His omnipotence is necessary, 
and independent of every other being. He is the 
•uom'ce from which all power flows. Whatever physi- 
cal force can be exerted by man, is derived from his 
Maker. In the exercise of natnral power, man is under 
a law to God. He is indeed a free agent ; but the 
divine law circumscribes his sphere of action, and 
marks out boundaries which he cannot pass with im- 
punity. To exert his natural powers under the direc- 
tion of law is right: to exercise any powers derived 
from God, contrary to his declared will, is wrong. 
Wliatever is included in the grant God has made to 
the human family, is one oi\\\Q rights of mail \ and 
beyond this grant, contrary to God's law, man cannot 
claim a right, until he shakes off his dependency, and 
elevates his own authority until it become paramount 
to that which is exercised by Jehovah. Whosoever 
attempts to deprive any of the human family of the 
former, or put him in possession of the latter, is guilty 
of treason against Heaven, unless he is expressly com- 



missioned, in this particular instance, to contradict the 
general principles of law, by the same great authority 
from which the law derives its binding force. He 
who, without this authority, breaks over the barriers 
of law, and, with physical force, deprives his neigh- 
bor of liberty or property, is an enemy to God and to 
man ; much more so he who commences an unpro- 
voked attack on any of his fellow men, and, with law- 
less power, steals him from his connections, barters 
him for some other commodity, or forces him to labor 
for the benefit of another, and that other an enemy^ 
who has committed, or countenanced the commission 
of the theft. 

The divine law declares this a crime, and prescribes 
the punishment. He who stealeth a man^ and selltth 
hirtiy or if he he found in his hand, he shall surely he 
put to death. 

This law was given to the Hebrews as a body 
politic ; but it proceeds on a moral ground, and is, con- 
sequently, obligatory still on every subject of moral 
government. 

He who acknowledges the morality of the eighth 
precept of the decalogue, will not require another proof 
of the morality of the conduct recommended in the text. 
If he who steals my purse, my coat, or my horse, be 
guilty of an immorality, he cannot be innocent who 
robs me of my fatlier, my brother, my Avife, or my 
child. Against this principle an inspired apostle 
directs his argument, in his Epistle to Timothy. 
1 Tim. i. 9. Knowing this, that the law is not made 
fur a riyhteaus man, hut for the lawless and disohedunt 
—for MAN 8TEAi.i:us — and if there he any other thing 
that is contrary to sound doctrine. Man stealing is 
classed with the most detestable crimes. It is con- 
sidered not only reprehensible among the ancient He- 



brews, but a moral evil in every age, and in every 
nation. 

From the text, I consider myself authorised to lay 
before you the following proposition : 

The practice of huying, holding, or selling ov/r un- 
offending fellow creatures as slaves is immoral. 

The text will certainly support this proposition. 
According to the common principles of law, the receiv- 
er of stolen goods, if he know them to be such, is es- 
teemed guilty as well as the thief. The slave-holder 
never had a right to force a man into his service, or to 
retain him, without an equivalent. To sell him, there- 
fore, is to tempt another to sin, and to dispose of that 
for money, to which he never had a right. 

The proposition does not militate against slavery un- 
der every form. By no means. A man, by the abuse 
of his powers, to the injury of society, may forfeit lib- 
erty, and even life : he may deserve slavery in the 
fullest sense of the word, in order that his punishment 
may be a sanction to the law — may be an example to 
others — and may compensate, as much as possible, for 
the injuries done to society. By " innocent fellow 
creatures, " in the proposition, it is not designed to 
teach that any of the human race is so in relation to 
the divine law : it is not to be understood in a moral, 
but in a political sense. As the subjects of Jehovah's 
government, we are all guilty, and deserve to perish. 
We have merited eternal imprisonment from Him. 
But, in relation to civil society, men are deemed inno- 
cent unless they have violated its laws. These are as- 
suredly entitled to personal freedom. 

It is intended, in this Discourse, to confirm the doc- 
trine of the proposition — to answer objections to it — 
and tnake some improvement of it. 



1. To hold any of our fellow men in perjpetual slav- 
ery is sinful. 

1. This appears from the "inconsistency of the prac- 
tice of liolding slaves with tlie natural rights of man. 
This is a term which lias been much abused. It is 
proper that accurate ideas should be annexed to it, 
otherwise its force, in the present argument, will not 
be perceptible. If man were a being, owing his ex- 
istence to accident, and not a creature of God, his 
rights would indeed be negative. If he stood in a 
state of independency of his Maker, and not a subject 
of law, his rights could be determined only by the 
will of society. But he is neither the son of chance 
nor the possessor of independency. His life and his 
faculties are the gift of God. From heaven he dei-ives 
positive rights, defined by positive precepts.* Con- 
sidering man as a free agent, by the constitution of na- 

* The author of " Political Justice" maintains that the rights of man 
are all negative — that man has no rigJds. His reasoning is ingenious, and 
is certainly less absurd than that which ■would introduce blasphemy and 
vice among the rights of man. Botli sentiments are, however, absurd, 
and the absurdity proceeds from the same source. Man is considered in 
relation to man only. The interest of truth requires this error to be de- 
tected and exposed. Before man is considered in relation to man, his 
relation to God must be understood. This is the primarj- one. It is 
that by which all others must be regulated. Consider man as a creature 
of God, and depending upon his bounty, and you see him receiving cer- 
tain privileges from that Lord who has a necessary and absolute property 
in all things. These are tJte rights of man. They are not inherent, but 
derived. 

Consider man as a creature, and you see him under a law to God. 
His possessions are completely circumscribed. Beyond this he has no 
right. All the rights of man are derived from God, and agreeable to Hit, 
law. 

By punctual attention to this principle, the friends of truth may con- 
sistently and suocossfully combat those who would rob man of his rights, 
or would unduly extend them. From this double battery, by maintain- 
ing a well-directed fire, they may defeat the supporters of civil and re- 
ligious usurpation on the one side, and the propagators of licentiousness 
in politics and religion on the other. 



tnre he has a right to the exercise of freedom, in con- 
formity to the precepts of that law h j which the Author 
of nature has ordered him to regulate his actions. A 
delegated power he has from God, and no creature has 
a right to restrict him in its rightful exercise. To op- 
pose the force of an individual, or of a society, to tliis, 
is to wage war against the Supreme Ruler; it is an 
attempt to reduce a moral agent to a mere machine, 
whose motions are to be regulated by external force ; 
and, consequently, a denial of his right to the person 
enslaved, and an arrogant assumption of lawless au- 
thority by the usurper. Is it necessary to pursue this 
argument before an American audience? It is gen- 
erally, if not universally admitted. Tlie principle is 
stated and maintained in that instrument which lies 
at the foundation of your national existence. In de- 
fence of it you have fought — you have appealed to the 
Lord of Hosts ; and in its support He has led on your 
armies to victory. 

2. If an opposite principle of action were universally 
admitted, it would lead to absolute absurdity. A de- 
monstration of this will confirm the proposition. 

If one man have a right to the services of another, 
without an equivalent, right stands opposite and con- 
trary to right. Tliis confounds the distinction between 
right and wrong. It destroys morality and justice be- 
tween man and man, between nation and nation. I 
have a right to enslave and sell you. You have an 
equal right to enslave and sell me. The British have 
a right to enslave the French, and the French the 
British — the Americans the Africans, and the Africans 
the Americans. This would be to expel right from 
the human family — to resolve law into force, and jus- 
tice into cunning. In the struffo-le of contendinsr 
rights, violence would be the only arbiter. The de- 



10 

cisions of reason would be peiTerted, and the sense of 
morality extirpated from the breast. 

Sucli absurdity will meet with few advocates to plead 
its cause in theory. Is it not, therefore, lamentable, 
that any should indulge a principle, or countenance 
n practice, the justificatioTi of which would necessarily 
lead to it? But, 

3. The practice of enslaving our fellow men stands 
€(pially opposed to the general tenor of the Sacred 
Scriptures. 

The Bible is the criterion of doctrine and conduct. 
It represents the European and the Asiatic, the African 
and the American, as different members of the same 
great family — the different children of the same benign 
and universal parent. God has made of one Mood all 
the natimis of men to dwell on all the face of the earthy 
and hath determined the hounds of their habitation. 
Acts xvii. 26. In relation to one another they are 
equally boimd to the exercise of benevolence, and are 
respected as naturally having no inequality of rights. 
Every man is bound to respect his fellow man as his 
neighbor, and is commanded to love him as himself.* 
Our reciprocal duties the divine Jesus summarily 
comprehends in that direction commonly called the 
golden rule : Whatsoever ye woxdd that men should 
do to you do ye even so to thetn; for this is the laio 
cmd the prophets.^ This is the sum of the duties in- 
culcated in the law of Moses, and in the M'ritings of 
the inspired prophets. How opposite the spirit of 
these precepts and doctrines to the practice of the 
slave-holder ! If he is consistent with himself, he will 
reason thus : "Tliese slaves are not of one blood with 
me. They are not entitled to the love I give to my 

* Murk xii. n. t MuU. vii. 12. 



11 

neighbor. The conduct which I should pursue, were 
I enslaved by another, I would not recommend to 
them. I shall feed and clothe them from the same 
principle that I feed and stable my cattle. They are 
my property as much as these ; and when they do not 
serve my purpose agreeably to my wishes, I shall dis- 
pose of them for money to another trafficker in human 
flesh. I acknowledge, if any person was to enslave 
me, I should endeavor to embrace the first opportuni- 
ty of making my escape. But if my negro ofters to 
run away, I shall pursue and severely chastise him. 
He has no right to leave his master ; the rule. What- 
soever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye 
also so to them, notwithstanding." — ^I need not add, 
brethren, that such sentiments are opposite to the 
principles of the Christian Religion. 

4. The practice which I am opposing is a manifest 
violation of four precepts of the decalogue. 

If this can be shown, it will be an additional con- 
firmation of the doctrine of the proposition. Revela- 
tion informs us, that whosoever offends in one point is 
guilty of all. James ii. 10. And the reason is added, 
because the same authority is wantonly opposed in 
that one point which gives sanction to the whole of 
divine revelation. By inference, therefore, the whole 
decalogue is violated ; but there is a direct breach of 
the fifth, the sixth, the eighth and the tenth command- 
ments. 

The fifth requires the performance of those duties 
which respect the several relations in, which we stand 
to one another; and particularly enforces obedience to 
our natural parents. The Christian's duty to the 
wretched African, brought providentially under his 
care, is to afford him the necessaries of life — to bring 
him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord — 



12 

to instruct him in the knowledge of his duty and his 
rights — to habituate him to honest industry — ^to help 
him to some . business for himself, and set him at lib- 
erty from his control. But the slave-holder exercises 
often a cruel, always an illegitimate, authority over 
his slave. He destroys, to a great degree, natural re- 
lationship. He sets aside the authority of the imme- 
diate parent; and, in opposition to the divine law, 
which commands each to honor his father and mother, 
the child is taught, from the cradle, that his duty con- 
sists in implicit obedience to the command of his 
master. 

The sixth requires the use of all lawful means to 
preserve the lives of men. But ah! Slavery, how 
many hast thou murdered ? Thou hast kindled wars 
among the miserable Africans. Thou hast carried the 
captive, who escaped death, into a still more misera- 
ble state. Thou hast torn from the bosom of the 
grieved mother her beloved daughter, and hast brought 
down the gray hairs of an aged parent, with sorrow, 
to the grave. Thou hast hurried them on board thy 
floating prisons, and hast chained them in holds, 
which have soon extinguished the remaining spark of 
life. The few who have escaped thou hast deprived 
of liberty, dearer itself than life. 

The eighth forbids the unlawful hindrance of our 
neighbor's wealth. The whole life of the slave-holder 
is an infringement upon it. The labor of a man is 
worth more than his food and clothing ; but the slave 
receives no more. His master robs him of the fruits 
of industry. He steals him from his relations. He 
robs him of his liberty of action. He steals him from 
himself. Tlie tenth commandment forbids all inordi- 
nate desires after worldly property. The practice of 
the slave-holder is an evidence of his avarice. He 



13 

employs servants without wages. He sells to a hard 
master, for money, the man and the woman whose se- 
vere services have already done more than make him 
compensation for any trouble or expense to which they 
had subjected him. Kot only the avaricious merchant 
who sails to the coast of Africa with his ship fitted 
out with the implements of cruelty, in order to import 
and expose to sale our sable brethren ; but the Amer- 
ican slave-holder also, is convicted of a breach of the 
tenth precept of the moral law. 

5. The system against which I contend is also inim- 
ical to that benevolent spirit which is produced and 
cherished by the gospel of free grace. 

In the system of grace all men are represented as 
proceeding from one pair — as fallen from a state of in- 
tegrity and happiness, into a situation that is sinful 
and miserable. God is revealed as beholding man in 
this condition with an eye of benevolence — ^having 
pity for the distressed, mercy for the miserable, and 
grace for the unworthy. Jesus^ God in our nature, 
appointed as the Saviour of sinners, and without re- 
spect of persons, gathers from the North and from the 
South, from the East and from the West, out of every 
kindred, tongue, and people, and nation, an innumer- 
able multitude, to be introduced, through His divine 
mediation, into a state of unspotted purity and un- 
speakable happiness. 

The influence which the grace of the gospel has up- 
on the heart, is to cultivate, increase, and perfect eve- 
ry benevolent affection, and suppress all malevolence, 
extirpating the principles of sinful selfishness from the 
soul — to produce a spirit of meekness and self-denial, 
of readiness to forgive real injuries, and of prayer for 
the good of our enemies. Yes, the spirit of the gospel 
is love to God and to man, evidencing its existence by 



14 

sintable exertions for the gloiy of our Creator, and the 
happiness of all our brethren, here and hereafter. 

How does this system, Christian, correspond with 
the slave trade ? You behold your African brethren 
in the same miserable state in which you are yourself 
by nature.* Do you not sympathize with them? 
Your Maker has not excluded them from a share in 
His love, nor has the blessed Redeemer interdicted 
them from claiming a share in Hjs salvation. How 
can you degrade them, therefore, from that rank which 
their Maker has assigned to them, and endeavor to 
assimilate them to the beasts that perish? By divine 
grace you are taught not to love this world, nor to be 
conformed to its sinful practices. Rom. xii. 2. Look 
at your slave! How came you by him ? "Wlio had a 
right to tear his father from the bosom of his friends, 
in order to enslave him and his offspring, and sell this 
wretched victim to you ? How long will religion suf- 
fer you to retain him in bondage? For life ? Ah ! hard- 
hearted Christian! is" it thus you imitate His example 
who died for your sins? who voluntarily descended 
from His heavenly glory, and humbled Himself into 
the death, in order to deliver you from slavery? On 
Him rested the Spirit of the Lord, for He preached 
glad tidings unto the meek. He proclaimed liberty 
to the captive and the opening of the prison doors to 
them who were bound. Isa. Ixi. 1. Does the same 
spirit rest on you ? does it produce a similar disposi- 
tion? Consider the contrast: consider it attentively. 
You have pronounced heavy tidings in the ear of your 
slave. You have proclaimed bondage for life to the cap- 
tive. You have even closed upon him the door of hope 
in his prison. You have purposed to enslave his off- 

Eph. iL 8. 



16 

spring. Merciful God ! how unmerciful do Thy crea- 
tures act towards one another ? 

6, The last argument I shall use for confirming the 
doctrine of the proposition, shall be taken from the 
pernicious consequences of the system of slavery. 

To this manner of reasoning there can be no valid 
objection, if it be kept within proper boundaries. 
That evil consequences follow a certain practice is not 
always a decisive evidence that the practice is wrong ; 
but it is a sufficient reason for us to pause, and exam- 
ine it in the light of truth. K we be required, in the 
divine law, to pursue this path, we must obey, leaving 
the consequences to His management who commands 
us. K it be in itself lawful, but not requisite, evil 
consequences presenting themselves would teach us 
not to proceed. But if it really be a forbidden path, 
the pernicious effecta of travelling it are additional 
warnings against continuing in it any longer. 

Ministers are commanded to preach the gospel, 
though it should prove the occasion of submitting ma- 
ny to tribulation in this life, and be to many a scmor 
of death unto death in the next. It was lawful for the 
apostle to the Gentiles to eat whatsoever meat was 
sold in the shambles; but if his using this liberty 
would have been productive of evil consequences, he 
would have instantly desisted from the practice. 1 
Cor. viii. 13. 

If, then, from a lawful practice, it be expedient to 
desist, because, although to ourselves useful, it is de- 
trimental to others, it is certainly our duty to relin- 
quish a system which is dubious in its nature. When 
we have presumptive evidence that we are fundamen- 
tally wrong, evil consequences are decisive against us ; 
and, as in the case before us, when other evidences 
condemn the practice, its pernicious consequences 



16 

lijiidly demand that from it we should immediately 
desist. 

1. Tliis pi'actice has a tendency to destroy the finer 
feelings, and render the heart of man more obdurate. 
Tlie butcher, long inured to slaughter, is not hurt at 
the lowing of the oxen, or the bleating of the lambs 
which he is about to kill.* Nor is the common execu- 
tioner much agitated in his work of blood, whether the 
victim be innocent or guilty. The slave may roar un- 
der the lash of his master, without commanding the 
least sympathy. The slave-holder views all the Ethi- 
opian race as born to serve. His heart is steeled 
against them. Nor is the transition great to become 
hard-hearted to all men. "The whole commerce be- 
tween master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the 
most boisterous passions — the most unremitting des- 
potism on the one part, and degrading submission on 
the other. Tlie parent storms — the child looks on, 
catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs 
in the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to the worst 
of his passions ; and thus nursed, educated, and daily 
exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it 
with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy 
who can retain his manners and morals undepraved 
by such circumstances,"f 

2. It debases a part of the human race, and tends 
to destroy their intellectual and active powers. The 
slave, from his infancy, is obliged implicitly to obey 
the will of another. There is no circumstance which 
can stimulate him to exercise his own intellectual 

* Frequent attendance in the slaughter-house is supposed calculated 
to blunt the feelings of humanity. By the laws of England, a butcher 
is not admitted to sit on a jury, lest he should not be sufficiently delicate 
in cases of life and death. 

+ Jelferson's Notes, Query XVIII. 



powers. There is much to deter him from such exer- 
cise. It he think or plan, his thoughts and plans must 
give way to those of his master. He must have less 
depravity of heart than his white brethren, otherwise 
he must, under this treatment, become thoughtless 
and sullen. The energies of his mind are left to slum- 
ber. Every attempt is made to smother them. It is 
not surprising that such creatures should appear defi- 
cient in intellect. 

Their moral principles also suffer. They are never 
cultivated. They are early suppressed. While young, 
the little tyrants of their master's family rule over 
them with rigor. No benevolent tie can exist be- 
tween them. The slave, as soon as he can exercise his 
judgment, observes laws to protect the life, the liberty 
and the property of his master ; but no law to procure 
these for him. He is private property. His master's 
will is his rule of duty. We have no right to expect 
morality or virtue from such an education and such 
examples. 

3. Another evil consequence is the encouragement 
of licentiousness and debauchery. 

The situation of the blacks is such as to afford every 
encouragement to a criminal intercourse. This is not 
confined to the blacks themselves, but frequently and 
shamefully exists between them and their masters. 
Tlie lust of the master may be gratified and strength- 
ened by intercourse wdth the slave, without fear of 
prosecution for the support of the offspring, or the 
character of the mother. The situation of these wo- 
men admits of few guards to their chastity. Tlieir ed- 
ucation does not strengthen it. In the Southern States, 
illicit connection with a negro or mulatto woman is 
spoken of as quite 'a common thing. Xo reluctance, 
delicacy or shame appear about the matter. The num- 



18 

ber of mulattoes in the Northern States prove that this 
evil is also prevalent among their inhabitants. It is 
usually a concomitant of slavery. 

4. This leads to a fourth lamentable consequence — 
the destruction of natural affection. 

An irregular intercourse renders it difficult for the 
father to ascertain his proper offspring. Among the 
slaves themselves marriage is a slender tie. The mas- 
ter sells the husband to a distance from his wife, and 
the mother is separated from her infant children. 
This is a common thing. It must destroy, in a great 
measure, natural affection. Nor is the evil confined 
to the slaves. Their master, in this instance, exceeds 
them in hardness of heart. He sees his slave nursing 
an infant resembling himself in color and in features. 
Probably it is his child, his nephew, or his grand-child. 
He beholds such, however, not as relatives, but as 
slaves, and rejoices in the same manner that he does 
in viewing the increase of his cows or his horses.* 

5. Domestic tyranny, which exists as a correlative 
to domestic slavery, is a nursery for civil tyrants. 
Powerful must be the force of other principles, and 
singular the combination of cu'cumstances, which can 
render an advocate for domestic slavery a sincere 



♦ "It is far from being uncommon to see a Southern gentleman at 
dinner, and his reputed offspring, a slave, waiting at the table. ' I my- 
self,' says a gentleman of observation, ' saw two instances of this kind ; 
an'l the company would very facetiously trace the features of the father 
and mother in the child, and very accurately point out their more char- 
acteristic resemblances. The fathers, neither of them, blushed, nor 
seemed disconcerted. Tliey were called n'.en of worth, politeness and 
humanity.' The Africans are said to bo inferior, in point of sentiment 
and feeling, to white people. The African-labors night and day to collect 
a small pittance to purchase the freedom of his child. The white man 
begets his likeness, and, with much indifference, sees his offspring in 
bondage and misery, and makes not one effort to redeem his own 
blood." — Morse's Universal Geography^ p. 66. 



19 

friend of civil liberty. Is it possible ? If he can buy, 
sell, and enslave for life, any individual of the human 
race, for no reason but self-interest, I should be un- 
willing to trust him with the affairs of a nation. Had 
he it in his power to do it with impunity, and did it 
appear conducive to his interest, or gratifying to his 
ambition, he would become as really a despot as the 
most arbitrary monarch. 

6. This practice is calculated to bring down the 
judgments of God on societies and individuals. 

The toleration of slavery is a national evil. It is- 
the worst of robberies sanctioned by law. It is trea- 
son against Heaven — a conspiracy against the liberties 
of His subjects. If the Judge of all the earth shall do 
right, He cannot but punish the guilty. 

Nations, as such, have no existence in a future 
state: they must expect national judgments in the 
present. Distributive justice will measure their pun- 
ishment according to their criminality. O America, 
what hast thou to account for on the head of slavery ! 
Thou alone, of all the nations now on the earth, didst 
commission thy delegates, in peace, and in security 
from the over-awing menaces of a tyrant, or of factions, 
to form thy Constitution. Thou didst possess, in a pe- 
culiar sense, the light of reason, of science, of revela- 
tion, of past argumentation, and of past experience. 
Thou hadst thyself formerly condemned the principle, 
and, in the most solemn manner, made an appeal to 
Heaven for the justice of thy cause. Heaven heard, 
and answered agreeably to thy wishes. Yet thou 
didst contradict a principle so solemnly asserted. 
Thou hast made provision for increasing the num- 
ber and continuing the bondage of thy slaves. 
Thy judgments may tarry, but they will assuredly 



20 

come.* Individuals are also in danger. Those who 
live " without God in theworld^^ may have temporal 
judgments inflicted upon them for the part they have 
acted in the encom-agement of slavery ;. but the time 
of retribution is in the world to come. Even real 
Chi'istians, the guilt of whose sins is removed through 
the atonement of Jesus, but who have learned the way 
of the heathen so far as to confirm to the wicked prac- 
tice of buying, selling and retaining slaves, have a 
right to expect severe corrections. Psalm Ixxxix. 30 

* The Declaration of ludependence has these words : " We hold these 
truths to be self-evident — that all men are created equal — that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights — that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — that to secure these 
rights, governments are instituted among men." The negroes are crea- 
ted equal with the whites according to this instrument. Their liberty is 
an unalienable right. But this nation has taken away this unalienable 
right from them. And although the nation declares that government is 
instituted to preserve this right, the government still continues to de- 
prive them of it. The United States, according to the late census, taken 
in 1301, hr>l(l 875,626 of the human race in slavery. They have, even in 
the Constitution of the general government, twelve years after the De- 
claration of Independence, made provision for the increase of the number. 
Art. I. Sect. !•. " The migration or importation of such persons as any of 
the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohib- 
ited by the Congress prior to the year 1808." They have thus, inconsist- 
ently, constitutionally authorized a continuance of the worst of robber- 
ies. Very few of the States have ma-le any adequate provision for the 
emancipation of their slaves. But the State of South Carolina has ex- 
ceeded her sister States in endeavors to perpetuate this impious practice. 
What language can express the political inc< -nsistency of a people who 
have inserted in a republican constitution of government the following 
section? Constitution of South Carolina, Art. i. Sect. 6. "No person 
shall be eligible to a seat in the House of Representatives unless he is a 
free white man. If a resident in the election district, he shall not be eli- 
gible to a seat in the House of Represeutatives unless he be legally seized 
and possessed, in his own right, of a settled freehold estate of five hun- 
dred acres of land, and ten xeoroes." To tolerate slavery is an evil of 
no small magnitude ; to give it a national recommendation is still more 
inexcusable ; but to render it a condition without which no man can re- 
present, in the legislature, the distri-jt in which he lives, exceeds anytliing 
on record in the annals of nations. This Constitution was adopted as 
late as the year IT'JO. 



21 

— 32. In proportion as they have an opportunity of 
ascertaining duty, will their danger increase, unless 
they cheerfully sacrifice interest to it. He who knows 
his master's will, and doeth it not, shall he beaten 
with many stripes. Luke xii. 47. I speak to you 
who parley with this temptation — you who, in defi- 
ance of conviction, are determined to go on in the 
paths of self-interest. In this very path you may 
meet correction. Your treasures are not secure. 
There is a God ; and while godliness continues to have 
tlie pt^omise of the life which noiu is, as loell as that 
vjhich is to come,* those who continue to practise on 
the system of slavery may expect to suifer loss. 
Watch them close : they may one day elude your vigi- 
lance, and escape with your treasure. The enslaved 
Hebrews were allowed to escape with the jewels of 
the Egyptians. You may lose, in a similar manner 
as much of your property as you have withheld from 
them of their earnings whom you retain in bondage. 
If not, God has it in his power to send mildew and 
blasting upon your crops — murrain and pestilence 
among your herds — until you sustain a greater loss 
than you would have suft'ered by giving liberty to 
your slaves. I should think it a favorable evidence, 
though not a conclusive argument, that God has a re- 
gard for you, if you are thus chastised for your op- 
pression of your brethren. But if ye he without chas- 
tisement, vjJiereof all are imrtahcrs, then are ye has- 
tards and not sons.-\ 

I have now finished what I designed to say in con- 
firmation of the doctrine of the proposition, and shall 
proceed, 

II. To refute objections offered to the principle I 
have been defending. 

* 1 Tim. iv. 8. f Hebrews xii. 8. 



22 

It is not to be expected that every objection shall 
now occur. Some that are made probably I never 
heard ; and some whicli 1 have lieard may have es- 
caped my recollection. I shall not, however, design- 
edly evade any that has the appearance of argument. 
I shall examine each in order to ascertain its full 
value. 

Objection I. "jN^ature has made a distinction be- 
tween man and man. One has stronger intellectual 
powers than another. As physical strength prevails 
in the subordinate ranks of creation, let superiority of 
intellect preside among intelligent creatures. Tlie 
Europeans and theii' descendants are superior in this 
respect to the Africans. These latter are, moreover, 
in their own country, miserable. Their state is not 
rendered worse by being enslaved. It is just for the 
more intelligent to rule over the more ignorant, aiid 
to make use of their services." 

Answer. The distinctions which nature makes be- 
tween man and man are probably not so great as 
those which owe their existence to adventitious cir- 
cumstances. 

The inferiority of the blacks to the whites has been 
greatly exaggerated.* Let the fact, however, be granf 

* There is no reason to suppose the blacks destitute of mental powers. 
In some settlements in this State, particularly along the Mohawk, and 
in Scoharie, the negroes, although slaves, are admitted to the privilege 
of consultation with their masters about the manner of conducting their 
labor. They live, comparatively, at ease and in plenty. They con- 
sult about the management of the farm, and frequently convey the pro- 
duce to the markets. The negroes, in these places, are as intelligent and 
active as their masters, unless the latter have had signal advantages from 
education, and associating with superior company. 

The courage and skill of the negroes in war will no longer be disputed, 
after their transactions in St. Domingo and Guadaloupe are known. And 
great must be his prejudice who can deny to the black Toussaint Uie 
qualifications of a warrior and a statesman. 

The writings of PhUlin Whtatly evince that negroes are not destitute 



28 

ed, and yet the inference which is the principle of the 
objection will not follow. It is the essence of tyran- 
ny. It is founded in false notions concerning the na- 
ture of man. You say, "a greater proportion of in 
tellect gives a right to rule over the less intelligent." 
But ybu are to observe that man is not only a creatuie 
capable of intellectual exertion, but also one who pos- 
sesses moral sentiments, and a free agent. He has a 
right, from the constiution given him by the Author 
of Xature, to dispose of himself, and be his own mas- 
ter in all respects, except in violating the will of Hea- 
ven. He naturally acts agreeably to the motives 
presented to him, with a liberty of choice respecting 
them. He who argues a right to rule from natural 
endowments must have more than a superior under- 
standing to show. He must evidence a superiority of 
moral excellence, and an investiture with authority ; 
otherwise he can have no right to set aside the princi- 
ple of self-government, and act in opposition to that 
freedom which is necessarily implied in personal re- 
sponsibility to the Supreme Moral Governor. Consid- 
er the consequences which the objection, if granted, 
would involve. He who could, by cunning contri- 
vance, reduce his innocent and more simple neighbor 
under his power, would be justifiable in enslaving him 
and his offspring for ever. All the usurpation of men 
of genius without virtue, from the days of Pharaoh to 



of poetic genins ; and the letters of Ignatius Sancho discover their pos- 
session of talents for prose composition. The observations of the Eev. 
Samuel Miller, of New York, on the negro school of that city, and those 
of Anthony Benezet on the school in Pliiladelphia, confirm this truth. 
But if any person desires more documents to corroborate the position 
that the talents of the negroes are not inferior to those of the whites, I 
refer hun to Clarkson's Essay, and to Dr. Beattie's refutation of Hume's 
assertions with respect to African capacity. There he will find satisfac- 
tion. 



24 

those of Bonaparte, would be jiistitiable on this prin- 
ciple. 

As for the circnmstance of the Africans being wretch- 
ed while at their own disposal, you are not accountable 
for it. Friendship for them is not well sho\vn in the 
slave trade. Your wicked traffic has already rendered 
them more wicked and wretched even in Africa. If 
you have ameliorated the condition of one, you have 
rendered more painful the condition of thousands." 

Objection II. " The negroes are a difterent race of 
people from us. Tlieir capacities, their shape, their 
color, and their smell, indicate their procedure ori- 
ginally from a different pair. They are inferior to the 
white people in all these respects. This gives a right 
to the superior race to rule over them as really as nature 

* The nations called civilized, upon accurate calculation, are found to 
export annually from Africa one hundred thousand slaves. Fifly thou- 
sand of there are obtained by kidnapping. In order to supply the other 
half, whole villages are at once depopulated, by order of the Princes 
under European influence, and wars entered into expressly for the purpose 
of making slaves of the prisoners. These causes produce constant quar- 
rels, and render the country miserable. It is supposed that 60,000 lives 
perish annually in these wai-s. Of the number shipped from .Africa, 
2.T,000 perish on the passage, by pestilence, insurrection, shipwreck, 
despair, &c. 25,000 more perish in seasoning to the climate of the West 
Indies. The remaining 50.000 linger out a life of wretched existence. 
Another fact will ascertain the havoc which famine, fatigue and cruelty 
make among those who arc seasoned to the climate. Ten thousand peo- 
ple, under fair advantages, should produce, in a century, 1C>0,000. In 
one of the colonies 650,000 slaves were imported in one century. TJ)e 
offspring of these, at the e.xpiration of a hundred years, amounted to 
140,000. According to this estimate, population was impeded in the pro- 
portion of seventy-four to one. In their own countrj- they would liave 
produced ten millions in that time. Thus it appears that upwards of 
100,000 lives arc annually sacrificed. This estimate is founded upon the 
t«!Stimony of witnesses by no means partial to the Africans — the testi- 
monies of Smyth, Bosnian, and Moore, agents to the factories estab- 
lished in Africa — and the records of Jamaica and St. Domingo. In Part 
III. of Clarkson's Essay, a history of the slave trade is given, and many 
tales of woe related. If the accuracy of this estimate is doubted, that 
excellent work uiav be consulted. 



25 

gives a right to the use of the other subordinate rankf 
of animated being." 

Answp:k. This goes upon the footing of discrediting 
Scripture authority. In a discourse to professed 
Christians I might reject it without consideration 
There may, however, be in my hearing a slave-holder 
who is an unbeliever of revelation. I would reasor 
even with him, that, if possible, I may serve the cause 
of justice, of liberty, and of man. The use of sound 
reason and philosophy Christianity by no means dis 
cards. 

Tlie principle of your argument is inadmissible ; and, 
if it were not, it would not serve your purpose. 

1 . It is inadmissible. Among the individuals of every 
species there is a difference. No more causes than are 
sufhcient to account for any phenomenon are required 
by the rules of philosophising. Tlie action of the ele- 
ments on the human body, the diet and the manners 
of men, are causes sufficient to account for that change 
in the organization of bodies which gives them a ten- 
dency to absorb the rays of light, to perspire more 
freely, and to put on that shape which is peculiar to 
the inhabitants of Guinea and their descendants. 
A single century will make a forcible distinction be 
tween the inhabitants of a northern and a southern 
climate, when the diet and manners are similar. A 
difference in these can make a distinction in the same 
latitude. It is impossible to prove that twenty or thir- 
ty centuries, during which successive generations did 
not mingle with a foreign race, could not give to the 
African negro that peculiarity of bodily appearance 
which so stubbornly adheres to him when translated 
into another clime. A few years of a hot sun may 
produce a swarthiness of complexion which the mild- 
est climate cannot, for years, exchange for a rosy cheek. 



26 

According to the laws lor propagating the species, the 
offspring resembles the parent. It is not to be expect- 
ed that a very apj^arent change should be wrouglit on 
the complexion of the offspring of negroes abeady in 
this country. Ten times the number of years which 
have passed over the heads of the successive genera- 
tions on the coast of Guinea, may be necessary, be- 
fore the negroes can retrace the steps by which they 
have proceeded from a fair countenance to their present 
shining black. Tlie causes of bodily variety in the 
human species which I have stated are known to ex- 
ist.'* It is highly unphilosophical to have recourse to 
others which are only conjectural. Enmity to revela- 
tion makes many one think himself a philosopher. 
But, 

2. K the principle were just it would be invalid : it 
would not answer your purpose. K you adopt the 
hypothesis of several original and distinct pairs, by 
whom the earth was peopled, you cannot determine 
where to stop. Tlie different nations of Europe and 
of Asia, and the different tribes of Americay»may have 
had different original parents, all upon the footing of 
subordination one to the other.f If the principle of 

* The author embraces this opportunity of recommending " An inquiry 
into the Causes of Variety in the Human Complexions," by Dr. Smith, 
President of the College of New-Jersey. His admirable criticisms on 
Lord Kaimes, by far the most able advocate of the doctrine of a plurality 
of distinct original pairs, deserve the perusal of the philosophic inquirer. 

t Mr. Miller eloquently expresses himself on this subject: — "Pride, 
indeed, may contend that these unhappy subjects of our oppression are 
an inferior race of beings ; and are, therefore, assigned, by the strictest 
Justice, to a depressed and servile station in society. But in \Nhat does 
this inferiority consist? JnadhYcTcncc of complexion and figure f Let the 
narrow and illiberal mind, wlio can advance such an argumant, recollect 
whitlier it will carry him. In traversing the various regions of the earth, 
from the equator to the pole, we find an infinite diversity of i?hadcs in the 
complexion of men, from the darkest to the fairest hues. If, then, the 



27 

your objection were admissible, it would prove too 
much, lead to absurdity, and is therefore capable of 
proving nothing. Each nation might claim a superi- 
ority of rank over the other. Right would be oppos- 
ed to right, and cunning and violence would be the 
only umpires. Involve not yourself in such inextrica- 
ble dithculties in advocating a practice truly indefen- 
sible. 

• Objection III. " I fii-mly believe the Scriptures. All 
the families of the earth are brethren. They are ori- 
•ginally descended trom Adam, and secondarily from 
Noah. But the blacks are the descendants of Ham. 
They are under a curse, and a right is given to their 
brethren to rule over them. We have a divine grant, 
in Gen. ix. 25 — 27, to enslave the negroes." 

Answer. This threatening may have extended to 
all the descendants of Ham. It is, however, to be no- 
ticed, that it is directed to Canaan, the son of Ham. 
In order to justify negro slavery from this prophecy, 
it will be necessary to prove four things. 1. That all 
the posterity of Canaan were devoted to suiFer slavery. 

2. That African negroes are really descended of Canaan. 

3. That each of the descendants of Shem and Japheth 
has a moral right to reduce any of them to servitude. 

4. That every slave-holder is really descended from 
Shem or Japheth. Want of proof in any one of these 
particulars will invalidate the whole objection. In a 

proper station of the African is that of servitude and depression, we must 
also contend that every Portuguese and Spaniard is, though in a less 
degree, inferior to us, and should be subject to a measure of the same 
degradation. Nay, if the tints of colour be considered the test of human 
dignity, we may justly assume a haughty superiority over our southern 
brethren of this continent, and devise their subjugation. In short upon 
this principle, where shall liberty end ? or where shall slavery begin ? at 
what grade is it that the ties of blood are to cease ? and how many shades 
must we descend still lower in the scale, before mercy is to vanish with 
th'in ." — Discourse to the Manumission Society of New-York, p. 12, 13. 



28 

practice so contrary to the general principles of the 
divine law, a very express grant from the supreme au- 
thority is the only sanction to us. But not one of the 
four facts specified as necessary can be supported with 
unquestionable documents. On each of them, how- 
ever, we may spend a thought. 

1. The threatening is general. It does not imply par- 
ticular personal servitude as much as political inferior- 
ity and national degradation. It does not imply that 
every individual of that race should of right be kept 
in a state of slavery. 

2. It is possible the negroes are descended from Ham. 
It is even probable. But is almost certain that they are 
not the offspring of Canaan. The boundaries of their 
habitation are defined. Gen. x. 19. The Canaanitish 
territory is generally known from subsequent history. 

3. The supposition, however, that the curse fell on 
the negroes, may be granted with safety to the cause 
of those who are opposed to the system by which they 
are enslaved. It will not serve as a warrant for this 
practice. It is not to be considered as a rule of duty, 
but as the prediction of a future event. God has, in 
his providence, given many men over to slavery, to 
hardships, and to death. But this does not justify the 
tyrant and the murderer. Had it been predicted, in 
so many words, that the Americans should, in the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century, be in possession of 
African slaves, we might argue from the fact the truth 
of the prophecy, but not the propriety of the slave- 
holder's conduct. It was foretold that Israel should 
be in bondage in Egypt. Gen. xv. 13. This did not 
justify the cruelty of Pharaoh. He was a vessel of 
wratli. Jesus, our God and Redeemer, was the sub- 
j ect of many predictions. According to ancient prophe- 
cy, and to satisfy divine justice, he was put to death. 



29 

The characters who fullilled this prediction were 
wicked to an extreme. Acts ii. 23. 

4. Slave-holders are probably the descendants of 
Japheth, although it camiot be legally ascertained. And 
they may be fulfilKng the threatening on Canaan, al- 
though they are not innocent. Be not afraid, my 
friends; prophecy shall be fulfilled, although you 
should liberate your slaves. This prediction has liad 
its accomplishment three thousand years ago. The 
descendants of Shem did, by divine direction, under 
the conduct of Joshua, subjugate the offspring ot 
Canaan, when they took possession of the promised 
land. 

This naturally leads to consider another objection — 
the most plausible argument that can possibly be offered 
in defence of the unhallowed practice of holding onr 
fellow men in perpetual bondage. 

Objection IY. ' ' God permitted the ancient Israelites 
to hold their fellow creatures in servitude. Men and 
women were bought and sold among them. The bond 
servant is called his master's money. Exod. xxi. 21. 
Had it been wrong in its nature to enslave any human 
being, God could not have granted the Hebrews a per- 
mission to do it. Negro slavery, stripped of some ac- 
cidental cruelties, it is not necessarily wicked," 

Answer. This objection requires minute attention. 
The fact is granted. Heaven did permit the Hebrews 
to purchase some of the human race for servitude. 
The general principle deduced from this fact is also 
granted. It is, in certain cases, lawful to enslave our 
fellow creatures. The application of it to justify tlie 
practice of modern nations is by no means admissible. 

God is the Lord of the universe. As the Supreme 
Governor, he does what is right. His subjects have 
violated his law, abused their liberty, and rebelled 



30 

against the majesty of Heaven. They have forfeited 
to his justice the liberty and the life he gave them. 
These they must yield. They will, at the time ap- 
pointed by the Judge, be enclosed in the grave. The 
sovereign has also a right to the use of whatever instru- 
ment he chooses in the execution of the sentence. He 
may choose the famine or the pestilence, the winds or 
the waves, wild beasts or human beings, to be the ex- 
ecutioners. Again : 

Civil society has certaiii laws, to which its members, 
voluntarily claiming its privileges, have assented. 
A violation of these is a violation of a contract, and 
the penalty stipulated must be paid by the otfender. 
When, by a person's licentiousness, justice is violated, 
or society endangered, it is just and necessary to enslave 
the criminal, and make his services, if possible, useful 
to society. This much I cheerfully grant ; and shall 
now proceed to show that the objection does not ap- 
ply to the doctrine which I have been endeavouring 
to establish. 

You cannot argue conclusively, in defence of negro 
slavery, from the practice of the ancient Hebrews, un- 
less you can prove, 1st. That the slavery into whicli 
they were permitted to reduce their fellow creatures 
was similar to that in which the negroes are held : 
and, 2dly. That you have, the same permission which 
they had, extended to you. If proof tails in either of 
these, the objection is invalid, and I undertake to show 
that IjotJi are without proof. 

I. The servitude into which the Hebrews were per- 
mitted to reduce their fellow men was attended with 
such restrictions as rendered it essentially different from 
tlie negro slave trade. It may be considered, 1. With 
reference to their brethren ; 2. As it respected strangers 



31 

1. A natural descendant of Abraham might, in two 
cases, be sold by the magistrates into servitude. These 
were theft and insolvency. And so great was the re- 
gard for freedom which their code of laws discovered, 
that even the thief could not be enslaved while he had 
property sufficient to answer the demands of the law 
for the theft, Exod. xxii. 1 — i. If a man shall steal 
an ox or a shee_p, and hill it, or sell it, he shall restore 
five oxen for the ox, and four sheejpfor the sheep. If 
a thief have nothing, then he shall he sold for his theft. 
Tlie servitude into which the debtor was sold for the 
benefit of the creditor was not severe. Lev. xxv. 39 — 
43. If thy hrother that dwelleth with the he waxen poor, 
and he sold unto thee, thou shall not compel him to serve 
as a hond servant, hut as an hired servant and as a 
sojourner he shall he with thee. Thou shall not rule 
over him with rigour, hut shall fear thy God. In both 
cases the duration of this species of slavery was limited 
to six years. On the seventh he shall go out free for 
nothing. Exod. xxi. 2. And it was required, in the 
case of the debtor, that his master should give him 
some stock on which he might again begin business 
for the support of his family. Deut. xv. 12 — 15. When 
thou send^est hirri out free, thou shall furnish him 
liberally of thy flock, thy flour, and thy wine-press. 

Both these laws evidence the greatest care of the 
liberties of individuals which is consistent with the real 
interest of the nation. They are strong motives to 
industry, and guard against burdensome taxation for 
the support of prisons. 

2. There were two classes of aliens with respect to 
which the Israelitish law gave directions — those who 
belonged to any of the neighboring Camaanitish tribes 
in particular, and such as belonged to other nations in 
general. With respect to the latter, the law was ex- 



32 

actly the same as to the Hebrews themselves. Lev. 
xxiv. 22. Ye shall home one manner of law as well for 
the stranger as for one of yov/r own coimtry. Verse 35, 
next chapter. If thy hrother he waxen poor, then thou 
shall relieve him — yea, tlvough he a stranger or a so- 
journer. But there are particular exceptions from 
this general law, which guaranteed from invasion the 
life, the liberty, and the property of aliens. These 
exceptions refer to the remains of the conquered tribes 
living among the Israelites, or to such of the nations 
of Canaan as were around them. Lev. xxv. 44,45. 
Of the heathen that are round about you, shall ye buy 
hondmen and hondmaids. Of the children of the 
strangers that sojourn among you, shall ye huy, and 
of the families which they hegat in your land. This 
permission was merciful. Tlie descendants of Abra- 
ham were expressly appointed the executioners of the 
divine sentence against the tribes of Canaan. Exter- 
mination was the command ; but on their voluntary 
subjection they were only reduced into a state of servi- 
tude. The Israelites were forbidden to use them 
harshly. Exod. xxi. 26. Accordingly, the Gebeon- 
ites, when they craftily obtained the safety of their 
lives, w^ere reduced into the situation of bond servants. 
Joshua ix. When Saul treated them with cruelty, 
God was offended, and even punished David because 
he did not avenge that cruelty on the house of Saul, 
at an early part of his reign. 2 Sam. xxi. 1, I pro- 
ceed, 

II. To prove that this example is not for our imita- 
tion. The Israelites themselves had no right to fit out 
their ships with their implements of cruelty, in order 
to steal, buy, stow away, and chain men of other 
nations, living, without injury to them, at a distance 
from their shores. Had thev done so, no future traffic 



33 

could have rendered their prizes legitimate. They 
were officially employed by Heaven to puuish the ini- 
quity of the nations which they vanquished. They 
were ordered to subdue, destroy or enslave the descend- 
ants of Canaan, and take possession of the land cove- 
nanted to their father Abraham. As a peculiar people, 
they were to be kept distinct until Messiah should come. 
The remains of foreign nations could not, therefore, be 
admitted to the rights of citizenship. The wall of par- 
tition is now broken down. All mankind are our 
brethren. There is no similarity of circumstances be- 
tween us and the ancient Hebrews — ^no divine permis- 
sion that can justify ub in holding slaves. Although 
the slavery were exactly the same with that into which 
the blacks are reduced, the practice of modern nations 
would remain unjustiliable. 

The decendants of Shem have, in the Hebrew nation, 
reduced Canaan into a state of servitude ; and the oif- 
spring of Japheth have surplanted those of Shem in 
both spiritual and temporal privileges. 

Objection Y. " Slavery was tolerated, in primitive 
ages of Christianity, by the Roman laws. It is not 
condemned by Christ or his Apostles. They have 
given directions for the conduct of master and slave. 
1 Tim. vi. 1. They have not intimated that the prac- 
tice of keeping men in slavery was sinful." 

Answer. What you have asserted is not correct, 
and, if it had been, it would be no objection to the 
principles for which I contend. The New Testament 
does condemn the slave-trade. 1 Tim, i. 10. Man 
stealing is here reprobated, together with every practice 
which is contrary to sound dootHne and the spirit of 
the glorious gosjpel. 1 Cor. vii. 21. If thou may est 
he made free, use it rather. It is recommended to 
the slave, if he is able, to procure his liberty. If he 



34 

has no fair means of obtaining it, it is his duty patient- 
ly to continue in bondage.* The gospel hope comforts 
him. The New Testament says (Col. iv. 1.), Masters, 

* Commerce in the human species is of a very early date. Moses in- 
forms US that Joseph was sold aa a slave, and disposed of in Egypt as 
such by the purchasers. Gen. xxxvii. 30, 86. Homer informs us, that 
In the time of the Trojan war Egj-pt and Cyprus were markets for slaves. 
Antinous threatens to send Ulysses to one of those places. Odys. lib. 
XVII. V. 448. 

M/j Ta.y_a. TrixPiiv Aiyj-r-rov xai K-^tpov iO»)ai. 

Tyre and Sidon were notorious for prosecuting the slave trade. This 
custom travelled over all Asia; spread through the Grecian and Ko- 
man world ; and was practised among the barbarious nations which 
overturned the Koman Empire. The abolition of the slave-trade among 
the European nations has been falsely attributed to the feudal system. 
The prevalence of Christianity was the real cause of it. The charters 
which were granted, in those days, for the freedom of slaves, were ex- 
pressly, fro amove Dei, pro merced^ animc ; " that they might procure 
the favour of the Deity, which they conceived themselves to have forfeit- 
ed by the subjugation of those whom they found to be the objects of di- 
vine benevolence." These effects were produced as the nations were 
converted, and procured a general liberty through Europe before the 
close of the twelfth century. In the commencement of this century slaves 
were a capital article in the domestic and foreign trade of England. When 
any person had more children than he could maintain, he sold them to 
a merchant. In the council held at St. Peters, "Westminster, A. D. 1102, 
this practice was prohibited. In the great Council of Armagh, A. D. 1171, 
the clercy of Ireland decreed that all the English slaves should be imme- 
diately emancipated. {Henry's England, vol. vi. p. 267, 8vo. edit.) It 
had not yet been discovered that the New Testament authorised slavery. 
No. Wherever this religion prevails, it will be found to be the '■'■perfect 
laio of Uberty." 

The instance of Onesimus has been very unhappily selected by the 
advocates of slavery to support their system. It does not appear certain- 
ly that he had been a slave to Philemon. He had been, indeed, a servant. 
But, if a slave, he was to be so no longer. Phil. 16. Paul had a right to 
demand his liberty. Phil. 8. He knows, however, that to request it 
would be sufficient. Phil. 9. It appears Onesimus had wronged his 
master. Phil. 18. Notwithstanding, Paul might lawfully have retain- 
ed him without a recompence. PhU. 13. But, confiding in Philemon's 
integrity, leaves the matter to his own option, and becomes security for 
Onesimus. Phil. 15. It appears that this Onesimus was no longer slave 
or servant. He was more probably afterwards a minister of the gospel, 
and colleague with Tychicua in Collosse. He is said to have been after- 
wards pastor at Ephcsus. 



35 

give unto your servants that which is just and equal. 
Treat them justly ; use them mercifully ; pay them law- 
ful wages ; give them an epuivalent for their services. 
But, supposing the Scriptures had been silent on this 
subject, the objector could not justify negro slavery 
from that silence. If it prove anything it will prove too 
much. It will prove the justice of the worst of tyranny, 
the most dreadful cruelty, because Kero is not specified 
as an infamous tyrant in the ITew Testament. It will 
prove that you have a right to sell your own children 
as slaves* — to kidnap your neighbor, your country- 
man and your friend. You need not, therefore, con- 
fine your traffic in human flesh to the African race. 
You may extend it even to your own children. But 
if such practices are not formally mentioned and con- 
demned in the New Testament, the principles from 
which they proceed are reprobated in the strongest 
terms. The whole system of slavery is opposite to the 
spirit of that religion which is righteousness and peace. 
True religion cheers the heart both of the subject of a 
tyrant and the slave of a master. It teaches them their 
duty as men, as social beings, as citizens of the world ; 
while it reprobates the character who holds them in dur- 
ance, and condemns the tenor upon which he holds his 
authority. It does not alter the external condition of 
the believer, unless it teaches the heart of those who 
are in power. It teaches him faithfulness and sobriety, 
patience and resignation, until God, in his providence, 
affords him an opportunity of being more usefully ac- 
tive in the restoration of moral order to society. 

* The immoralities practised in the Koman Empire, under the sanction 
of law, were numerous and aggravated. It would be an unreasonable 
mode of compiling a system of ethics, to sustain as moral every ancient 
usage of the Grecians and Eomarts whicn are not expressly condemned 
in the New Testament. 



36 

Objection VI. " I abhor the principle. The practice 
of importing and selling men is detestable. But here 
they are. We found them slaves. We are not obli- 
ged, at the expense of our property, to set them at 
liberty. The community in general will not consent 
to it. They will therefore be slaves. I want a servant. 
I may purchase and hold a slave. His condition will 
not be rendered worse by serving me. I am bound 
to treat him mercifully : but, as matters are now situa- 
ted, there can be no evil in my keeping him in bond- 
age." 

Answer. If men were not strongly influenced by 
interested motives, they could not impose so far on 
their own understandings as to give indulgence to the 
principle contained in this objection. A long contmu- 
ance of evil doing will change the nature of wrong 
into right. If so, there is an end to the distinction 
between virtue and vice.- Your fathers left the negroes 
in bondage, as an inheritance to you. Does this justify 
you in retaining them ? No. If the first stealer and 
the first buyer acted contrary to justice, the constant 
retainer cannot be guiltless. You condemn the prin- 
ciple, but justify the practice. Act consistently, I 
beseech you. Touch not^ taste not, hamdle not the 
wnclean thing. Let me call your attention to another 
fact. You have a slave of thirty years of age in your 
possession. He was born in your house. By natural 
laws, and according to the first principles of civil lib- 
erty, he was born equally free with your son. Who 
has, upon him, committed the robbery by which he 
has been deprived of his natural rights? Yourself. 
Lay not the blame on your parents, for you imitate 
their example. The text applies to you directly. 
You have stolen from his connections, from himself, a 
man born in your house. Have you purchased him ? 



37 

You have contenanced au impious commerce; the 
best reparation you can make is to set your slave at 
liberty. You cannot afford to perform acts of such 
extensive benevolence. Do justice, however. Deal 
mercifully with your servant. When the wages which 
he might have annually earned shall have amounted 
to the purchase money, and lawful interest, set him 
immediately at liberty from your controul. If you 
are a worthy character, he shall afterwards voluntari- 
ly serve you, unless he be ungrateful indeed, provided 
you give him due wages. After confessing the system 
to be indefensible, it is to be hoped you will not give 
your suffrages to render it permanent.. — I shall pro- 
ceed, 

III. To make some improvement. 
In his walk of faith, the Christian considers himself 
bound to the practice of every known duty. By the 
test of obedience, the nature of his love to God is tried. 
This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments, 
and his comma/adifnents are not grievoiisJ^ This dis- 
position inclines and fits him for making a practical 
improvement of just theory. And the view we have 
now had of the evils of the slave-trade may be im- 
proved for several uses. 

1. We should lament over the distressing sufferings 
of our brethren in bondage. True piety does not 
blunt the feelings of benevolence. Commiseration 
with the wretched is strongly inculcated. Weep with 
those that weejp. Evangelic principle forms the soul to 
it. For these things I weep : mine eye, mine eye, run- 
neth down with tears.-f The situation of the African 
is miserable. In his native country he is in darkness. 
He has no vision, no well grounded hope — the inhabi- 

* Kom. xii. 15. t Lament, i. 16. 



38 

tant of a waste wilderness, without God in the world. 
He becomes acquainted with foreigners on whom a 
Christian education has been bestowed. They profess 
tlie religion which breathes peace and good will to- 
wards men. He knows them to his sorrow. New 
occasions for war are afforded, and new and terrible 
instruments for prosecuting war provided, for the al- 
ready ferocious tribes of the wilderness. He is taken 
captive, and is sold for a bauble. He is chained in 
the suffocating dungeon of a floating prison. He is 
brought into a strange country. The whip is brandish- 
ed over his head. "With its lash his back is furrowed. 
In a land boasting of civilization, and enlightened by 
the gospel luminary, he is doomed to ignorance, to 
rudeness and wretchedness. There is power on the 
side of the oppressor, hut on his side there is no poioer.^ 
His genius is cramped ; the energy of his mind are 
suppressed; his moral feelings are eradicated; his 
soul, his immortal soul, is left to perish without the 
knowledge of Jesus. " Oh, slavery, thou art a bitter 
draught ! " Miserable African, we lament over your 
condition. We are sensible of your sufferings. We 
sympathise witli you. We recognise you as a brother. 
We recommend you to the protection of our Heavenly 
Father. We consign you to the arms of our dear 
Redeemer. God of mercy ! Let the sighing of the 
prisoner come hefore thee : according to the greatness 
of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed 
to die.j- 

2. We may improve the view we have taken of the 
negro slave-trade, in order to stimulate us to present 
duty. 

The benevolence of the Christian is not like the sen- 

* Kooles. iv. i. t Psalin Ixxix. ii. 



39 

sibility of a writer of romance, ready to be exercised 
on imaginary objects, but blind to objects of reality. 
Wliile we drop the tear of compassion over the slave, 
let us enquire whether or not we can do anything to 
alleviate his sorrows. Cannot your agency diminish 
the number of slaves, and your behavior be an ex-: 
ample to others to contribute their influence to the 
same desirable end? 

I cannot demand of you, my brethren, to sacrifice 
your property imprudently in purchasing the liberty 
of your neighbour's slaves ; but justice, your religion, 
requires that you should cease to be slave-holders your- 
selves. With respect to the young, arrangements may 
be made, to defray, by their services, the expense of 
their support and their education, before they are 
emancipated. To this you have a right, and to no 
more. The middle-aged has already repaid your ex- 
penditures. If he has been purchased, charity would 
recommend it to you, nevertlieless, to set liim at lib- 
erty: and justice demands that you should retain liim 
in bondage no longer than is sufficient to recompence 
you for your trouble and expense. With reference to 
the old, the inactive and the infirm. Godly wisdom will 
direct the conscientious to such measures as may be 
best calculated to secure their advantage, and enable 
you to maintain an honourable testimony against this 
abominable usurpation. Be merciful to them. Cul- 
tivate their understandings. Make them feel them- 
selves to be men. Raise them to the rank which God 
has assigned them. Teach them the doctrines of the 
gospel. Give them liabits of industry. Pray for them. 
Sacrifice the property which the civil law gives you in 
them, on the altar of religion. Seek for a recompense 
from on high. Heaven can reward you. Godliness 



40 

is ptiqfikiUe unto all things. It ha^ t}ce prornue of 
the life which now is, and of that which is to come* 

3. The preceding discussion may be improved for 
discovering the duty of gospel ministers. 

These occupy an important oflfice in the house of 
God. They are embassadors for Jesus Christ. They 
are commissioned not so much to please as to teach. 
The volume of revelation contains their instructions. 
In negociating a treaty between heaven and earth, 
they are not to neglect its directions. It contains no 
useless articles to be expunged or neglected. Much 
prudence, much prayer, and large communications of 
the divine spirit, are indeed necessary to constitute 
fallible man a wise steward of the manifold ^race of 
God. This is promised ; and he is faithful who prom- 
ised, and able to perform.^ Mankind have no right 
to be offended at ministers for directing them on the 
head of slavery. My text is in the Bible. I have an 
undoubted right to discuss it. Is the discussion script- 
ural, and is it well timed? are the only questions 
men have a right to ask. My brethren in the ministry, 
if you lament over this evil, let your voice be raised 
aloud against it. Tlie subject is important. To handle 
it rashly may be dangerous. Oflence may be unde- 
signedly given, and unjustly taken, which may mar the 
peace of the church, and hinder the propagation of the 
of the gospel. Offences Tmist come. Woe to him by 
whom they are introduced. Tliis should make you 
vigilant, but not silent. Some, indeed, have pushed 
their opposition to political evils too far. Tliis may 
have had an influence in deterring others from going 
as far as duty directed. There is a timidity natural to 
some characters, which detains tbem from prosecuting 

• 1 Tim. iv. 8. -f Heb. x. 2, 8. Ko n. iv. 21. 



41 

public subjects. Some, who are traitors to their Mas- 
ter's cause, neglect some articles in their instructions, 
while negociating in his name ; and there is a meek- 
ness and diffidence cherished by true piety, which render 
ministers more disposed to evangelic discussions than 
to inveigh against public immoralities. But remem- 
ber, brethren, that in preaching the gospel you are 
not to neglect the law. It is to he umd as a school- 
master to lead men to Christ, who is the end of the 
law for righteousness to every one who hclieveth. And 
you are also to teach, that the gospel is designed to 
establish the law, and dispose men to obey its dictates. 
You may comfort yourselves, probably, while neglect- 
ing your duty upon such subjects, by classing your- 
selves with an apostle, in desiring to know nothing 
hut Jesus, and him crucified. Be assured, however, 
that the resolution of that inspired writer was not re- 
corded with a view to militate against the express 
precept of our arisen Lord. He commanded his am- 
bassadors not only to preach the gospel to all nations^ 
but also to teach them all things whatsoever he com- 
manded.'^ Considering the guilt and the danger ac- 
companying the practice of holding our brethren in 
perpetual slavery, it will be serving God in your 
generation prudently to exercise the right of giving 
public warning against it. Let us do our duty, leav- 
ing the consequences to God. 

4. Tlie view we have taken of this subject also affords 
a practical lesson to our legislators and statesmen. To 
you belongs the maintenance of justice and order in 
society. Your influence, your authority, your wisdom, 
can be of signal service to the nation, if they are all 
exerted in the cause of righteousness. Engage your- 
self speedily in rectifying this evil practice of holding 

* Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 



42 

joiir brethren in slavery. It is inconsistent with the 
natural rights of man ; it is condemned by the Scrip- 
tures ; it is at war with your republican institutions ; 
it ruins the minds and the morals of thousands ; and 
it leaves you exposed to the wrath of heaven. It is 
easy to see that, although it supports indolence and 
the pride of families, it is truly detrimental to the 
wealth, the industry, the population, and the safety 
of the commonwealth.* It may be difficult to point 
out a safe mode of redressing the evil. Every plan is 
accompanied with difficulties. To export them to 
Africa would be cruel. To establish them in a separ- 
ate colony would be dangerous. To give them their 
liberty, and incorporate them with the whites, would 



* " From repeated and accurate calculations, it lias been found that 
the expense of maintaining a slave, if we include the purchase-money, 
is much greater than that of maintaining a free man ; and the labor of 
the free man, influenced by the powerful motive of gain, is at least 
twice as profitable to the employer as that of the slave. Besides, sla- 
very is the bane of industry. It renders labor among the whites not 
only unfashionable, but disreputable. Industry is the offspring of ne- 
cessity rather than of choice. Slavery precludes this necessity, and 
indolence, which strikes at the root of all social and political hap- 
piness, is the consequence." Morse's Geography, p. 65. 

If these observations be just, it appears that slavery is impolitic as 
Well as immoral; and they will hold true except in cases in which the 
negroes are treated in some degree as men, and in which they enjoy a 
considerable portion of freedom : and even where this is the case, there 
is a great disadvantage accompanying negro slavery. It renders service 
of any kind disreputable. All the white people cannot be masters, and 
yet even the poor are very unwilling to serve. When they do engage 
in service it is difficult to deal with them. If you assume an authority 
over them they resent it ; if you have work to do which is disagreeable, 
your hired man or woman spurn at the thought of being more meanly 
employed than yourself; nay, they will not be called servants, for this 
would be reducing the::i to a level with the blacks. This is prevalent 
throughout the country, except in those places in which different cus- 
toms have introduced different ideas. The want of :iubordination &nd 
fiftthfulness in tlie white servants in America, has long been a subject 
of remark to Europeans. In the slavery of the blacks we see the cause 
of it— a cause more powerful than even mistaken notions if liberty. 



/ 43 

he more so. Tlie sins of the fathers, it is to be feared, 
will l)e visited on their children. But it is more safe 
to adopt any one of those plans than continue the evil. 
By a national repenting and forsaking, we may find 
mercy. Providence can dispose of all things in our 
fa\or. We liave a right to expect that He will ward 
off or mitigate the threatening consequences, if the 
nation would venture upon TTis kindness to do their 
duty. 

It must appear ridiculous to Europeans " to hear 
of an American patriot signing with one hand decla- 
rations of independency, and with the other brand- 
ishing a whip over an affrighted slave." Can you 
be sincere friends to liberty and order, and tolerate 
this dreadful traffic. 

From repeated and accurate calculations, it has 
been found that slavery is unfavorable to the wealth 
of nations. 

Listen to the remarks of a writer of observation 
and eminence. "With what execration should the 
statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half of 
the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, 
transforms those into despots, and these into enemies 
— destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor 
patrice of the other ! With the morals of the people, 
their industry also is destroyed. Of the proprietors 
of slaves a small proportion is ever seen to labor. 
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, 
when we have removed their only firm basis, a con- 
viction in the minds of the public that their liberties 
are the gift of God? that tliey are not to be violated 
but with his wrath ? Indeed, I tremble for my coun- 
try when I reflect that God is just — that his justice 
cannot sleep for ever — that an exchange of situation 
is among possible events — that it may become pro- 



44 

bable by supernatural interference."* You will tind 
it true, that righteousness exaltHh a nation^ and that 
sin is a reproach to any people.^ 

In concluding this discourse, let me warn my hear- 
ers to consider the evil hand they may have in the 
system of slavery, and especially that they are by 
nature in the worst of slavery themselves. Come for 
deliverance from the bondage of sin unto the Son 
of God : for, whom the, Son rrutkes free^ shall he free 
indeed.^ Standing fast in this liberty, use it in the 
service of God and of man. You are no more yonr 
own / ye are hought with a price. GloAfy God in 
your Jjodies and spirits which are hia. Amen. 

* Jeffersou's Noten. t Prov. xiv. S4. 



A.ppE]srDix:. 



THE PRESENT WAR IMPROVED. 



Extracts from a Sermon preached ox Thanksgiving 
Day, November 2*7, 1862, ix his Church, by 
JoHx N. McLeod, D.D,, New York. 

THE REBELLION A MORAL WRONG. 

The Southern insurrection which has precipitated us into war, is not 
only unconsututional, inexpedient, and perilous to all the economical 
interests of the country, but also a great moral wrong, — a resistance to 
the ordinance of God which justly exposes to the merited condemnation. 
And hence too, with our ecclesiastical brethren all over the land, we have 
sustained the war, as a war of defence of God's ordinance of civil govern- 
ment, of the liberties of man, and of the religion of Jeius Christ. In this 
case emphatically the " Ruler " as God's " minister " should not bear the 
sword in vain. . What is war but wholesale capital punishment ? What is 
rebellion but the capital offence that authorises its infliction ? We deplore 
the occasion, the fact, and the consequences of the existing war, as we 
would deplore the suffering which all punishment involves ; but we would 
still call for its vigorous prosecution as the only means of restoring order, 
reforming wrong and re-establishing a righteous and permanent peace. 
We would do honor to the Christian ministers and other men who have 
gone out from our own Church, in the spirit of a noble ancestry, to fight 
the battles of their country. And we would inscribe the names of the 
many who have already fallen, on the same column that records and per- 
petuates the martyrdoms of the earlier times. 

That nations as such are amenable to the law of God, and to puni.shment 
for its violation is a dictate of Bible morality which it is criminal to ignore. 
Existing only in the present life their retribution is here and now. As 
moral persons they are taught, warned, chastised ; and reformed and 
spared, or utterly destroyed as they receive or reject the Divine admoni- 
tions. The past is full of examples of this. The prophetic history of the 
future recorded in the Apocalypse shows that there is more of it to 
come. And the wrecks of empires and republics which are scattered 
everywhere over the great ocean of time are startling evidences of its 
certainty and importance. For the nation and kingdom (says Isaiah) 
that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea those nations shall be utterly 
wasted. This is the great lesson which God is teaching the American 



46 

Repuljlic now. And every painful stroke which he inflicts upon h3r by 
the iron rod of war is either a prelude to destruction, or a prompter to 
repentance and reform. We yet believe that he who has sent it as a 
judgment from his own hand, will employ the war to bring us to the 
reformation which he demands. 

THE SINS WHICH GOD IS REBUKING. 

We do not now attempt to present a catalogue of the national sins 
which God is so severely rebuking. Among them are unboubtedly our 
pride and vain glory. This has offended God, and lie is humbling us 
before other nations, and ourselves. And along with this we have to 
lament our ingratitude towards God, who has distinguished us by so 
many mercies; our intense worldlincss as a great commercial people, 
our elevation of bad men to office and power, the teiiible conuption 
that prevails in the management of public trusts, and of the public treas- 
ure, the Sabbath-breaking, profaneness, and infidel disregard of the law 
and religion of Jesus Christ which in practice produces no disqualification 
from office in the State ; and in addition to all this, the encouragement 
and support which past administrations of the National Government 
have given to Southern slavery, and the growing despotism which it has 
created. We have always been among the number of those in our coun- 
try who have regarded slavery, as it exists among us, as a local and not 
as a national institution ; and that the ultimate responsibility for it5 evils 
rested upon the individual slaveholders themselves, and the State author- 
ities to which they are more immediately subject. But this has not 
prevented us from seeing that the corrupting influence of this great 
iniquity has been constantly increasing and extending ; that it has at 
last become a giant power in the land, and that with the one hand it was 
attempting to grasp the national sceptre, while with the other it was 
holding down in the dust of their degradation the increasing millions of 
its wronged and unhappy subjects. And the conclusion is evident, that 
while the South is more immediately and directly responsible for the 
wrong and evil of the bondage perpetuated among themselves; the 
North is also responsible for them before God, just so far as they are 
sustained by the opinion, sympathies and acts of individuals, and by the 
public deeds and policies of public men, and Federal laws, judgments, 
and administrations. 

SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 

And this is the moral connection which we perceive between Slavery 
and the War. God's forbearance with this evil here would seem to be 
exhausted, and he ha.s come out of his place to punish the guilty. He is 
punishing the South with desolating armies, with a ruined commerce 
with a depreciated currency, with threatened famine, with alarms of 



47 

servile war, with the destruction of her monuments of Family pride, and 
with the baptism of blood which her people are experiencing. And he 
is chastising the North with the* same storm of bloody revolution, dis- 
turbing her industry, bringing uncertainty on her future, tl.reatening the 
destruction of the Union to which she adheres, desolating her households, 
also, and exposing her to the peril of falling 1 efore her own divided and 
conflicting parties. In all this there is righteous retribution, and to per- 
ceive and profit by it is to take the first step to repentance, reform, and 
national salvation. We must by no means involve the whole country in 
o(iual guilt in regard to the evil of slavery. They who have always op- 
posed and labored to remove it by the means provided by the Gospel 
may rejoice that they have in so far discharged their duty. The measure 
of chastisement which belongs to each is for the determination of Him 
who inflicts it. 

EMANCIPATIOX SIXTY-THREE YEARS AGO. 
When the Reformed Presbyterian Church, some sixty-three years 
ago, condemned the principle and practice of "holding unoffending 
men in bondage," (and this is her definition of Slavery,) she at the 
- same time proclaimed emancipation of the bondmen of her members. 
They acquiesced, and the object was effected. Some of the men who 
witnessed the transaction have lived to see many of the other churches 
cf the land coming up to the platform which she then occupied almost 
alone. And they have beheld the President of the United States 
issuing his proclamation for freedom, and in their supreme judicatory 
ihey have thanked him for it. They rejoice to see that the friends 
of emancipation are increasing by tens of thousands. That multitudes 
of the oppressed are gaining their freedom, and showing their ability to 
use and enjoy it; that the Christianity of the land is on their side, and 
that many of the slaveholders themselves are inquiring for a better way. 
In all this they see the morning star that is the harbinger of the coming 
day of universal liberty to man. Its radiance may be obscured by the 
war clouds among which it lias arisen, but still it is there, and if it goes 
down, it will only be to give place to the sun in due season. There is 
no incongruity in the thoughts that the present war is at once the rod 
of God to break Slavery to pieces, and of paternal chastisement for the 
correction, reform, and salvation of our country. 

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

And here also we see the present conflict in other of its higher 
aspects. Commenced and precipitated upon us by the slaveholding 
So ith, to sustain their secession, which is ultimate anarchy — on the 
part of the government of the Union it is a war of defence. They 
defend the law against treason, their property against wholesale plunder, 



48 

their national life against the weapon of the as?a.esin, and the principle 
of republican government itself against those who would bring it into 
contempt and shame. Nay more, the war is for liberty itself. The 
slavery of man by his fellow man is a violation of natural right. It is 
inconsistent with the genius of the Christian system. It is a painful 
degradation of its unhappy subject. It is a disturber of the whole 
order of society. It is a nurse of tyrants. It must therefore be in 
conflict with liberty and right wherever they co-exist, and the strife for 
the mastery must sooner or later come. Restrained, palliated, post- 
poned, it has at last come among ourselves, and we are witnesses of it 
today. Leaving all the smaller questions involved to the economists 
and the. politicians, we would desire to rise to the eminences of the 
subject, and be found on the side of liberty. We can be found 
nowhere else. 

Nor can the result be doubtful. Let the Southern oligarchy be 
successful, and build up their social arch with slavery as its keystone, 
their triumph will be but temporary. The world, inconsistent as it is, 
will be against them. Their four millions of bondsmen cannot be kept 
in chains with freedom all around them, and war with other States and 
Nations will divide their .strength and break their power, and God, who 
is the giiardian of the oppressed, will not always suffer the wrongs done 
to his creatures. Let the Southern politicians be disappointed, their 
insurrection suppressed, and their social system revolutionized, and 
f-lavery will die the death. Let the war be stopped by the compromises 
of unprincipled politicians, and a re-adjustment leaving slavery where it 
was be effected, and even this is possible, and yet after all the triumph 
of oppression would be but evanescent. It is too late in the day of the 
world's progress to admit of its being lasting. The mass of the intelli 
gence and the virtue of this nation have become persuaded that slavery is 
a wrong and a curse, and the cause of our present conflict in which the 
national life is endangered, and they will not rest under the distressing 
burden. The founders of the American Union never imagined that 
slavery would have lived till this hour of the day as a great disturbing 
power in the Republic. Let the burden be thrown off in season. It 
has been carried too long already. Let the Republic attempt to carry 
it no longer, lest sinking under its accumulated weight both fall together. 
But we lonfidcntly hope for better things than these. Let the nation 
return to God by adequate icpentauce of all its social sins. Let every 
yoke of oppression be broken ; let God and Jesus Christ his Son be 
honored by a due national acknowledgment ; le; God's ordinance of cinl 
order be administered by the Christian rule, and this great people will 
yet flourish in all that appertains to a Christian nation. 



From Banner of the Covenant, February II. IsGd. 
This rem trk:ilih' disoourse which was the first issue from the press, of its icil'tcil 
author, is again presented to the public, by his grandson, and naiuesako in New 
Tork. It has been said of opinions and events, that they move in a circle. This 
sermon is an evidence of this. Though flfty-eight years old, its adaptations to 
present times, and to the new phases of the question of human liberty, a])|)earinir 
at present in our country, are most striking. When the Reformed Presbyterian 
Church assumed the ground which is maintained in this discourse, on the subject 
of sla.ery, she stood alone among the churches. At the expense of much self- 
denial by herself, and of much misconception and opposition by others, she has 
continued to maintain it to the present day; and she now sees whole eonimunities 
in the Christian Chur h coming up to, and deliberately occupying with her the 
same platform. Treating the subject as a great question of moral duty, she has 
continued to tell her own people, her' sister churches, and the great nation whose 
piivileges she enjoys, that American Slavery is wrong, and that therefore every 
ipeans consistent with the gospel, should be used by church and state for its speedy 
removal from the land. She sympathizes with her brethren of the colored race 
whether actu.illy in bonds, or nominally free, and claims for the right to know and 
enjoy the gospel. She encourages no violent insurrections, or inconsiderate use of 
force, as a remedy for the evil, but seeks to api)ly the moral law, and the princii)les 
of the gospel to the case, that men may be pursuaded to do to their fellows in 
bonds, that which is just and equal, and thus break every yoke and set the oppress- 
ed free. The discourse before us is eminently scriptural, its ground is radical, its 
arguments are hard, its opinions .are fearlessly uttered, but it comes to 
all in the spirit of Christian kindness, .and with the persuasions of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. No change has been made in any respect from the original ; and it 
is commended t'l tliv perusal of all. 

F roiii National /Standard. Feb. 2, lst)0. 

A Vo:cE FKo.M THE Past.— TUs discourse was jjreached and Urst published fifty- 
eight years ago. The author was well-known in this city for many years as 
an eloquent preacher, abl^i theologian, and clear and earnest writer on moral and 
political topics. Having received a call, in November, ISOO, to take the pastoral 
charge of a congregation in Orange County, and noticed among the signers some 
whom he knew to be slaveholders, he did not consent to accept the place until he 
had made known his sentiments on the subject of slavery. Not loni: after his 
settlement he pnac".».!d this discourse, in which he demonstrated the sinfulness of 
slavery on moral and scriptural grounds. It «as printed and widely circulated at 
the time, and has been reprinted again and again, both in this country :ind in 
Europe. 

It presents the arguments against slavery with cumulative and exhaustive force, 
as they were understood by the most enlightened opponents of the system at that 
<lay; and alth mgh it contains here and there a phrase which the author. If living, 
would, in the clearer light of the present day, wish to change, it is scarcely less 
adapted to the state of public opinion now than it was in 1S02. 'J'he publisher of 
this edition is a grandson of the author, who honors himself as well as the memory 
of his noble grandfather in re-issuIng a discourse which received, more than half a 
•century ago, the warm commendation of Thomas Jefferson, and of that celebrated 
phil mthropist, Henry, Count Gregoire of France. It is refreshing to turn from 
the utterances of the popular divines who *lishonor the name of Christianity in our 
day. by their defences or apologies for slavery, to the sentiments of a noble man of 
a preceding generation, who labored earnestly to purify the Church from the <lamn- 
ing iniquity, and whose counsels, if they had not unfurtunately been contemned, 
would have res\ilted, long' since, in the freedom of every slave on the American 
soil. 



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